The first gathering for the River of Herbs course will be on Sunday 10th February 2013. We will begin at 10.30am and continue until 12.30pm. We will meet in Oosterpark, in the bandstand (where thre Tai  Chi group practice). So if it’s raining we’ll hopefully have a little shelter to start with. You can easily reach the bandstand by entering the park at the entrance nearest the Tropenmuseum and NH Tropen hotel. Keep the lake on your left, go over the bridge (hotel and museum on your right). Continue just a little way and you’ll be at the bandstand. Oosterpark can be reached directly by trams 9, 7 & 3 (Van Swinden, Linneausstraat stops). Trams 14 &10 stop at Alexanderplein, just a short distance away.

Please be prepared for all weather possibilities. I suggest you bring along a small flask of hot water. I’ll bring some herb bread or cake to share.

This time we’ll look at:
Choosing suitable sites/containers for the plantings that I’m calling Urban Herb Meadows,
How to get permission to plant in public spaces (should you want/need that),
Suggested plants to suit you and the location,
How to prepare for spring planting
How to build up your plant stocks for free or very low cost.

The course is fully booked but there’s a huge waiting list of interested people. Obviously, the idea of growing and using herbs in this way is popular.  If any of the waiting list (or others) like, I’ll gladly send a summary handout by email, after the event, should it be of interest. Maybe I’ll post it here as a pdf, if I can work out how to do that!

The idea of River of Herbs is to share and spread knowledge in the hope that we can plant, maintain and safely harvest herbs in forgotten spaces of the city. By focusing on herbs, we can become empowered in many ways and at the same time can help urban neighbours such as pollinating insects.

I planned this start meeting to coincide with Imbolc – The time of year when new life begins to stir. The time to take action on ideas that have been incubating over winter. The time to do what you have been dreaming of. I look forward to sharing the powerful Imbolc energy with many of you and with the soil of this city.

The government funding, via Groen en Doen, has reached me already so a dedicated website for River of Herbs is now being created.

Any questions, feel free to contact me via Lynn.Shore@gmail.com or 0627596930